By Jeremy Watkin, Director of Customer Experience at FCR

In customer service, closing the loop with dissatisfied customers who’ve voiced concerns through post-interaction surveys—such as Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS)—is often regarded as a gold standard. And rightfully so. Addressing their issues head-on, offering appropriate compensation, and demonstrating a genuine desire to retain them can be powerful tools in reducing churn.

During my time leading service teams, I took pride in this very practice. It wasn’t always perfect, but it helped save many customer relationships that could’ve otherwise been lost.

But here’s the reality: many unhappy customers never fill out surveys. They don’t complain. They just silently walk away—frustrated, disappointed, and gone. Some may share their negative experiences with dozens of friends or post on social media, while we, the service providers, remain completely unaware. That’s the group that keeps me up at night—the silent churners. The ones we didn’t even know were dissatisfied until it was too late.

So the question arises: Are we truly listening to the voice of every customer—or just the ones willing to talk?

The good news is, today’s technology allows us to hear more than ever before—far beyond surveys. It’s time we rethink what listening really means.

Why Surveys Aren’t Enough

Don’t get me wrong—surveys are great. They provide direct insights and are vital to a culture of continuous improvement. Asking for feedback shows intent. Acting on it builds trust. But as a standalone voice of the customer (VoC) tool, surveys fall short.

Across the customer service landscape, I see survey response rates ranging from 10% to 30%—and it’s rare to see anything higher. That means 70% to 90% of customers aren’t being heard. Can we confidently say we understand our customers if we’re only hearing from a small fraction?

The answer is no.

To truly understand what's driving dissatisfaction—and to reduce churn—we need to capture all forms of customer feedback, including non-survey channels like email, chat, phone, social media, and even silence.

Listening Beyond Words: The Power of Sentiment

Much like nonverbal cues in personal relationships—“the look,” the tone, the pause—customer communication is rich with emotional context. In fact, most of the feedback I receive in my personal life isn’t verbalized at all. I have to read between the lines.

Technology has come a long way in enabling us to do this in customer service too. Natural Language Processing (NLP) allows us to analyze not just what a customer says, but how they say it—detecting emotions like frustration, confusion, or sarcasm.

And here’s where it gets powerful: statistics show that only 1 in 26 unhappy customers will file a complaint. The rest? They leave without a word. But with NLP and sentiment analysis, we can detect dissatisfaction in chat logs, social media mentions, call transcripts, and support emails—often before customers ever fill out a survey (if they even do).

With this approach, we’re no longer just listening to the 10-30% who take surveys—we’re potentially understanding 100% of interactions. But there’s still one more piece to this puzzle.

Customers Speak With Their Actions

Traditional contact center platforms are built around reactive support. The customer has an issue, they reach out, and we respond. But what about the customers who don’t reach out? Are they automatically satisfied?

Unlikely.

To truly understand the customer journey, we must step back and evaluate every touchpoint a customer has with our business—regardless of whether it involves the support team. This is where customer journey mapping becomes invaluable. It helps us visualize the full lifecycle—from acquisition and onboarding to purchase, usage, and renewal—uncovering pain points we’d otherwise miss.

Some signals that may indicate dissatisfaction:

• A long-time subscriber cancels or downgrades without warning.

• A loyal customer stops engaging with promotional emails.

• An order is delayed, and the customer never follows up.
   

All of these are opportunities to proactively intervene, even before a formal complaint arises. The key is recognizing and interpreting behavioral cues—not just verbal ones.

Introducing the Lens of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

As we build a more proactive VoC program, there’s one critical metric often overlooked: Customer Lifetime Value.

Understanding how much a customer has spent—and how much they’re likely to spend—should absolutely guide how we engage with them. CLV gives our support teams essential context. A small compensation may seem generous, but it could fall flat for a high-value customer. On the flip side, overcompensating for low-value cases can strain business resources.

More importantly, CLV allows us to prioritize outreach. If we notice churn signals, we should start by engaging our most valuable and long-standing customers first. It's about working smarter, not harder.

A mature voice of the customer program integrates CLV alongside feedback, sentiment, and behavioral data to paint a full, 360-degree view of the customer experience.

From Reactive to Proactive: The Future of VoC

Let’s recap. We started with post-interaction surveys—great but limited. We added sentiment analysis to capture more voices. Then we layered on customer actions to understand unspoken feedback. Finally, we factored in lifetime value to prioritize effectively.

This is the modern voice of the customer: holistic, data-driven, proactive.

It’s no longer about just hearing complaints and putting out fires. It’s about predicting friction, identifying silent churners, and building long-term loyalty through personalized experiences.

And when you get it right? You don’t just solve problems—you prevent them. And you sleep better at night knowing your customers feel seen, heard, and valued.

About the Author:
Jeremy Watkin is the Director of Customer Experience at FCR. With over 17 years of experience in customer service, CX strategy, and contact center leadership, he is also the co-founder of Customer Service Life. Jeremy is a recognized thought leader known for blending practical insight with a people-first philosophy.